There was a time last fall when I thought Kitchissippi Councilor Jeff Leiper would bring some Zohran Mamdani-style energy to the mayoral race. For reasons that we can speculate on, it didn’t happen. Leiper and his campaign manager Stephen Yardy obviously had their reasons. Leiper is now going to launch his campaign on Tuesday, 17 February. I’m going to be exploring the Leiper campaign strategy in upcoming columns. But I will note here that, whatever you may think of Neil Saravanamuttoo’s channeling of Mamdani’s in-your-face political style, he is offering Ottawans a clear choice in October. When Saravanamuttoo talks, he names the Mayor by name, something that Leiper, given his status as a sitting Councilor, has avoided doing. That’s going to have to change for Leiper starting next week. I know, I know, the Leiper camp is going to remind me that he has a lock on Ottawa’s centre-left vote, something that Saravanamuttoo can’t break as a novice politician. That’s what i would expect the Leiper campaign to say. But here’s the thing, Saravanamuttoo only has to paint Leiper as a die-hard capital P progressive and seed doubt about his ability to deliver real change (basically doing Mark Sutcliffe’s and Alex Lawton’s jobs for them). Leiper needs a coalition to unseat Sutcliffe. Neil Saravanamuttoo now stands in his way.